Source: The Star Tribune MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, June 8, 2002: Anant Rambachan, professor of religion at St. Olaf College, is one of ten religious experts worldwide invited to the Vatican to discuss religious tolerance. Rambachan wants to find constructive solutions to the world’s violence by encouraging the world’s major religions to find common ground, common voices and common values. When genuine…
Source: Religion News Service LONDON, ENGLAND, August 6, 2002: Both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England have announced their support for scrapping the English law against blasphemy and replacing it with a more generalized law against incitement to religious hatred. The present blasphemy law only covers material denying the truth of Christianity, the Bible or the Church…
GO TO SOURCE BHOPAL, INDIA, July 31, 2002: Sant Ram Kishore Das Khade Shree Maharaj has never in the past nine years sat or lied down. Originally from Nepal, the 73-year-old saint has pledged to remain standing for at least 14 years for world peace. Sant Ram feels he can remain standing for more than 14 years or even through…
GO TO SOURCE AHMEDABAD/VADODARA/RAJKOT, INDIA, August 3, 2002: On the first anniversary of the January 26 earthquake, the Narendra Modi government ordered special prayers to appease the dharti mata. Various organizations all over the state are praying for a revival of the monsoon. People are resorting to several methods to solicit divine intervention to avoid a drought. In Vadodara, plans…
GO TO SOURCE HYDERABAD, INDIA, July 26, 2002: Heaps of garbage, overflowing drains and filth all around was what the Mayor, T. Krishna Reddy, got to see in the vicinity of the famous Ujjaini Mahankali temple even as the annual Bonalu festivities commence on Sunday. The Mayor warned of stringent action if the “mess was not cleared up immediately.” Though…
GO TO SOURCE KASHMIR, INDIA, August 5, 2002: This long New York Times report begins, “Shouting ‘Hail Hail Shiva!’ thousands of Hindu pilgrims crowded two narrow dirt tracks high in the Himalayan mountains of the disputed territory of Kashmir. Even though the pilgrimage is purely religious, it has not escaped the conflict in this battered territory. The threat of attacks…
Source: The Guardian (London) LONDON, ENGLAND, July 8, 2002: The Church of England has thrown its weight behind an extraordinary proposal to unite Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Hindu children in the country’s first multi-faith secondary school. The plans, backed by leading figures from all four of Britain’s main religious groups, are aimed at transforming the image of faith-based education which…
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel PEWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, June 30, 2002: When Prem Sharma came to the United States in the 1960s to study at Marquette University’s dental school, the Burma native and a handful of Hindu families would hold prayer meetings in their houses for lack of a space to worship. Having long outgrown gathering in basements, a burgeoning Wisconsin Hindu…
Source: Toronto Star ONTARIO, CANADA, June 30, 2002: When an astrologer warned Anasuya Dhanrajgir that bad luck was on her horizon, she took the road increasingly travelled by modern Hindus. In the old days, the astrologer’s advice might have suggested the 39-year-old Anasuya to take a 900-mile journey to a temple on the southern tip of India. Instead, the stage…
Source: Omaha World-Herald OMAHA, NEBRASKA, July 10, 2002: From sunup to sundown, 11 Indian workers commit themselves to the meticulous duty of crafting a Hindu temple. The visiting temple carvers work in a building tucked away in a corner of southwest Omaha. Slowly, the unique temple architecture is distinguishing itself from the area’s common strip malls. The renovation is one…